A recent article in the Canadian magazine The Walrus [link] reminded me of the time I took an unscheduled tour of the Oakland ghetto because someone used the route planning of a GPS system instead of their own brain to get to Emeryville. I formed an opinion which I still hold; real men do ask for directions, but only of other real men and women, or of maps, not of computerized systems. I love Google Maps; I love how they can pinpoint where anything is, where I am, and how the streets and even the buildings can be seen from the air. The Search function finds businesses, hotels, and restaurants for me. But no real man ever pushes the Directions button. Or if he does, it’s only out of curiosity. I admit that I have pushed that button out of curiosity as to what route it would recommend from Orange County to places in the Midwest. But I would never rely on it. I know a lot of people can’t read maps nowadays, but at least if you ask human beings for directions, you get the benefit of human experience, of the reasoning of people made in the image of God. No computer is capable of that sort of sophistication.
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